AMWA Annual Conference: Worth its Weight in Gold

I have been home from the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) annual conference in Sacramento for a week now, and I am still flying high from everything I learned and all of the new friends and contacts I made. When I was starting out as a medical writer, I asked other medical writers whether or not the AMWA annual conference was worth the money. I got wishy-washy responses from the few people I asked, but after 2 years of attending myself, I can say with a resounding yes that it is worth it.

What you will gain from attending the conference in the future:

• You will meet many other friendly and welcoming medical writers (to me, this is the best part)
• Whether your are a newbie or veteran, you will learn ways to improve your writing and/or editing
• The Keynote Speaker is always well worth seeing (http://amwaconference.blogspot.com/2012/10/keynote-address-can-fictional.html)
• Several networking events provide opportunities to exchange business cards with other writers and editors
• Breakfast Roundtables allow you to learn from other medical writers in a small group setting
• Open Sessions are included in the registration fee, and the speakers are experts on their topics
• Workshops are excellent educational opportunities whether or not you are working towards an AMWA certificate
• If you are unable to make your regional chapter meetings because you live too far away, you will be able to meet other members from your chapter
• If you are a freelancer, you will leave with a variety of ideas for your business